The present patent application is directed to the supply of pulsation energy to batteries and, more particularly, to the supply of pulsation energy to a battery back-up system in a manner that reduces electromagnetic interference.
Batteries have been used to supply electrical energy to various applications, wherein the applications place a load on the batteries. While batteries are commonly used as a primary source of electrical energy, batteries are also commonly used as a source of continuous back-up, power, which is commonly referred to as battery back-up. For example, a traditional grid-powered application may include a battery back-up to supply electrical energy to the application in the event of a power failure or other supply interruption affecting the electric grid.
A battery back-up may be configured in various ways depending on the application. As one example, the battery back-up may be an off-line battery back-up, wherein the battery back-up remains idle until a switch is actuated, typically as a result of a failure in the primary power source, thereby transferring the application from the primary power source to the battery back-up. As a second example, the battery back-up may be an on-line battery back-up, wherein the battery back-up continuously powers the application from its energy reserves, while simultaneously replenishing the reserves from the primary power source.
As a battery is discharged, various electro-chemical reactions occur within the battery that result in the accumulation of various deposits, such as lead sulfate deposits, on the battery components (e.g., the battery plates). Batteries are designed to accommodate these deposits, but when these particles increase in size, they cause the charge and discharge cycle to become less efficient. Pulsation devices have been used to counteract the accumulation of large crystal deposits by applying pulsation energy, such as radio frequency energy, to the battery. Without being limited to any particular theory, it is believed that pulsation energy breaks down the accumulated deposits and facilitates ion flow to the active material on the battery plates.
In the telecommunication industry, certain equipment and circuitry is backed-up by large strings of batteries, usually in an on-line battery back-up configuration. However, the use of pulsation energy to restore and maintain healthy operation of the battery strings may cause high levels of electro-magnetic interference (“EMI”) to emanate into the sensitive telecommunication equipment/circuitry, thereby causing unacceptable levels of noise. Therefore, to avoid the problems associated with EMI, users may take the battery strings off-line for pulsation reconditioning, thereby greatly increasing maintenance costs, or to avoid higher maintenance costs, users simply replace the battery string which substantially increases capital costs.
Accordingly, there is a need for a battery pulsation system that reduces or perhaps even eliminates EMI in the battery application.